Over the weekend, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen broke the biggest news of the offseason when he reported that future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning was set to officially announce his retirement from the NFL on Monday.
While Mortensen breaking a story regarding his good friend Peyton Manning wasn’t too surprising, it was great to see for another reason.
Mort is currently receiving treatment for stage 4 throat cancer. Mortensen has been undergoing the treatment since January, but that did not stop him from breaking the big news.
Peter King of MMQB.com provided further details.
“So it wasn’t until Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported just after 7 a.m. Eastern on Sunday that Manning was retiring that people knew for sure it was over. How did they know for sure? Because Manning and Mortensen are close. Mortensen is currently a patient at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, being treated for a life-threatening form of throat cancer. Mortensen is not working right now as he receives treatment, but he broke the definitive news on Manning, which said to everyone in the business: Peyton Manning is taking care of Mortensen. A cool thing to do—if that’s how it happened,” King wrote.
While people have been celebrating Manning’s career, there have also been other prominent media members celebrating the fact that Mortensen is still breaking news while receiving his treatment.
Very cool to wake up this morning to see @mortreport breaking big NFL news on my timeline.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) March 6, 2016
Mort's The Man.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 6, 2016
Have stronger emotion about @mortreport being the one to the break the Manning news than the fact that Manning is retiring.
— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) March 6, 2016
How great is that?
We wish Manning the best in the next step of his career and send our thoughts to Mortensen as he continues to battle his illness.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
